Rams can use Eagles as blueprint to re-sign Sammy Watkins

Tuesday is an important day for the Rams and several other teams across the NFL. It’s the first day they can place the franchise tag on one of their pending free agents, with that guy likely to be Sammy Watkins.

The cost is likely to be north of $16 million for 2018, which is a huge amount for a wide receiver. It would put him in the top three among wideouts as far as annual salary goes, ahead of Julio Jones, Davante Adams and A.J. Green.

Related

Given the amount that the Rams gave up to acquire Watkins – E.J. Gaines and a second-rounder – they’d be wise to keep him around for one more year. The question now is how they’ll go about doing that.

There are a few options: a long-term extension, a one-year deal or the franchise tag. The tag seems like the most probable path, but there’s a perfect blueprint already out there for the Rams to follow.

Last offseason, the seemingly cap-strapped Eagles landed the top receiver on the market in Alshon Jeffery. They signed him to a one-year, $14 million deal, protecting themselves from disaster in the future.

At the time, Jeffery was a big question mark. He hadn’t posted a 1,000-yard season the previous two years and only played 21 games combined from 2015-16 due to injury. Although he had the look of a No. 1 receiver, there were concerns about whether he could become one.

Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The Bears opted not to franchise tag him for a second year, which would have paid him more than $15.7 million in 2017. That opened the door for the Eagles, who paid him $14 million for one season – less than he would have earned on the tag again.

Instead, he played 11 games before earning a four-year, $52 million extension from the Eagles. They saw enough to warrant a new deal for their No. 1 receiver, paying him $13 million per year.

That’s the blueprint the Rams should follow, should they choose not to tag Watkins. Both players were injury-prone, both players struggled in the two years prior, and both had the potential to become top-tier receivers.

The benefit is that they’d be able to negotiate a long-term extension during the season if he signs a one-year deal. On the franchise tag, teams and players can’t talk about a new deal after July 16. After that date, the player is locked into the tag, assuming he signs the tender.

The Eagles were able to sign Jeffery to a long-term deal before the season ended. That gave them an advantage over the rest of the league, preventing him from ever hitting the open market.

(Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

The Rams could allow Watkins to play on, say, a one-year, $12 million contract before talking about a new deal. If he struggles for the majority of the season, they won’t feel pressured to sign him to a new contract. If he explodes and dominates for a good stretch, the two sides can talk about an in-season extension like the Eagles did with Jeffery.

The risk, obviously, comes in the fact that the Rams will be bidding against 31 other teams for Watkins’ services. If a team were to offer him $42 million for three years, he’d probably bolt.

Of course, none of this matters if the Rams tag Watkins between Tuesday and March 6. There’s no chance he’ll sign a one-year deal worth less than $16 million in that case, making it likely he plays on the tag in 2018.

Either way, the Rams have to find a way to keep Watkins around for one more year. Signing him to a one-year contract worth about $12 million would be the most financially friendly and flexible move, but it won’t make a huge difference either way. He should be back in 2018.

Like this article?

Sign up for the Rams Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning

Success

Thanks for signing up.
You'll be waking up a little more awesome tomorrow.